From the convention site in immigrant-heavy Florida to the multi-hued faces that will be visible on stage over the next several days, Republicans are clearly courting minority voters — particularly Latinos.

But as the television news cameras broadcast sweeping shots of delegates at the Republican National Convention, something else will be visible too: a sea of red, white and blue apparel — and white faces.

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This year, 46 Republican delegates are African-American, or about 2 percent of the total, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. That is up from 36 in 2008, which was the lowest number in 40 years, but far less than the 167 black delegates in 2004, which was the highest since 1912, said David Bositis, senior political analyst for the Joint Center.

The Joint Center does not track Latino or other minority delegates, but the Republican convention is likely to have more Hispanic delegates than African Americans, he said.

Bositis found that 26 percent of the 4,000-plus delegates to the 2012 Democratic National Convention are African-American. He estimates that at least 40 percent of the Democratic delegates will be from minority groups.

Bositis said the GOP needs to broaden its appeal to minority voters or face irrelevance in the coming years as America becomes more diverse.

Read more at the Dayton Daily News.

Editor's note: With the 2012 Republican National Convention about to begin in Tampa, CNN asked veteran insiders Donna Brazile, Democratic strategist and former campaign chair for Vice President Al Gore's presidential bid, and Ari Fleischer, Republican communications expert and former press secretary for President George W. Bush, to give us their tips on how to navigate a political convention. Here are Brazile's tips.

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2. Watch the media for reports that track delegate diversity.
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has been tracking the ratio of minority delegates at the conventions for 40 years. In 2008, it found that 36 of the 2,380 Republican delegates were African-American. Women delegates were at a 40-year low. Another nearly all-white convention will make it hard for the Republicans to sell themselves as a majority party.

Read more at CNN.

The calls for an additional presidential debate moderated by (and aimed at) minorities escalated on Friday.

Ralph B. Everett, the chief executive of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a research and analysis center that focuses on the socioeconomic status of blacks and other minorities, sent a letter to Janet H. Brown, executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates. He urged her to reconsider the commission’s rejection of a plea by Univision to stage a presidential debate moderated by its own Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena, or another host of Hispanic origin.

“It has long been the practice of the television industry to avoid placing people of color in front of the camera,” Mr. Everett wrote. He said he hoped the commission would embrace Univision’s proposal “by adding more debates to the calendar.”

Read more at nytimes.com.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies supports AT&T’s campaign against texting and driving. The It Can Wait campaign provides statistics, stories, and experiences to create a clear picture of the consequences of texting behind the wheel. Ultimately, It Can Wait reminds drivers, particularly teenage drivers, that sending or receiving one simple message while driving can forever change their lives and the lives of those around them.

As an organization focused on issues surrounding people of color, we are well aware that African Americans and Latinos are some of the heaviest consumers of mobile technology in America. We believe programs like It Can Wait are crucial to keep these communities abreast of safety concerns involving their devices, especially behind the wheel. We applaud AT&T for its efforts to educate Americans on the dangers of texting and driving.

The performance by the Rev. William Owens at the National Press Club last week was enough to make a cynic blush. In a nearly empty room, as the C-SPAN cameras rolled, Owens, a Tennessee minister and self-proclaimed leader of the civil rights movement called out the president for his changed position on same sex marriage.

“I didn’t march one inch, one foot, one yard, for a man to marry a man, and a woman to marry a woman,” he said.

Claiming to speak for thousands, he connected the prevalence of same-sex marriage to the collapse of the African-American family. And he threatened the president with a widespread revolt by black voters on Election Day. “He has not done a smart thing,” Owens said.

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“I would place the odds of African Americans defecting the president as about the same as the odds of an asteroid hitting the Earth and wiping out all human life,” says David Bositis at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. “It’s not going to happen.”


Read more at The Washington Post.

After the 2010 elections, it seemed a safe bet that the District would continue its 12-year streak without a major political scandal. The image of a city run by a crack-smoking mayor was a distant memory, no longer visible in the rearview mirror as successive mayors drove the District on the road to municipal respectability.

Washingtonians took pride in their city’s improved reputation, particularly longtime black residents who lived through the embarrassing arrest of former mayor Marion Barry on drug charges.

The civic pride began diminishing in the past few months, after D.C. Council members Harry Thomas Jr. and Kwame R. Brown, both Democrats, were forced to resign. It came to screeching halt when a federal investigation implicated that three political aides to Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) were involved in a scheme involving boatloads of illicit campaign contributions and irregularities. Everyone is waiting to see whether Gray will be charged next.

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“People who have a local perspective, rather than a larger perspective, view everything bad that happens in the District as a negative thing about them,” said David Bositis, a senior researcher at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a D.C.-based think tank focused on political and public policy issues.

Read more at The Washington Post.

When President Barack Obama arrives in New Orleans on Wednesday to speak before the National Urban League annual conference, he will touch down in a state where his party, less than a month before the qualifying deadline, has yet to find a congressional candidate for any district outside the black-majority seat held by Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans.

For Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, who seized control of the party from Buddy Leach in April, it is a year for "grassroots rebuilding." But so too was last year, when the party failed to field a single major candidate for any statewide office, including governor.

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"Black voters and elected officials have less influence now than at any time since the civil rights era," David Bositis, an analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, wrote in a stark analysis late last year. It is the culmination of nearly a half-century process that began with the dismantling of Jim Crow, the empowerment of black voters and an explosion in black representation, but that now finds its ironic coda in a once-dominating Democrat Party transformed into a largely African-American enterprise that is only occasionally able to scrounge enough white votes to compete effectively outside black districts. The result has been the loss of legislative control in every Southern state save Arkansas.

Read more at the Times-Picayune.

This slide show discusses how Social Security benefits truly help those who receive them. Presented at a National Academy of Social Insurance 2012 Summer Academy session entitled Demystifying Social Security on July 11, 2012.

The cliche "every vote counts" is sure to get a workout this election season. A new report from the National Urban League says the African-American vote could play a critical role in November. Host Michel Martin talks with Chanelle Hardy of the National Urban League and David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Read more at National Public Radio.

From National Public Radio's Tell Me More. The cliche "every vote counts" is sure to get a workout this election season. A new report from the National Urban League says the African-American vote could play a critical role in November. Host Michel Martin talks with Chanelle Hardy of the National Urban League and David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.